Under Better Circumstances
by Dragon'sHost
Summary: Romeo has no idea why his teacher and Lucy are acting so weird around each other, but he chalks it up to the adults being weirdos.
1. Chapter 1

**This was intended to be a oneshot, but I took a liking to it. Probably won't have more than 5 chapters total.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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"Thanks for agreeing to come with me, Lucy," Romeo said to his companion as they walked down the cobblestone street, relief palpable in his voice. "I owe you big time for this."

"No problem, Romeo!" the blonde woman reassured him. She waved her hand in dismissal, her grin self-deprecating. "It's not like I had any plans for today anyway."

"But I still feel bad for taking up your day." He scratched his cheek, turning his head slightly to hide his embarrassment.

The action elicited a giggle from Lucy. Romeo had no idea just how much he looked like his hero when he did that. He must have picked it up unconsciously from Natsu, she concluded. "Like I said, no big deal. I thought it might be fun to see where you learn. I never had the opportunity to attend school growing up, much less a magic school, so this will be a great learning experience for me!" She paused and pumped her left fist into the air, grabbing the bicep with her other arm, legs akimbo in a power stance.

Romeo couldn't help but snort at her. Lucy was just as ridiculous as her partner sometimes.

A shouted cry of, "Looking good, Lucy!" from a boat on the canal had her turning and waving at her favorite boatmen for a moment, before she resumed following Romeo with a wide smile and a skip in her step.

"Why me, though?" she asked him. "Not that I'm not thrilled to be considered a mage you look up to, but I would think that your dad and Natsu would be ranked higher than me. Or even Bisca and Alzack, for that matter."

The boy sighed. "Dad doesn't exactly… _know_ about these classes, so I can't really take him with me. Besides, it would be embarrassing to bring him."

"That's fair," Lucy accepted. Sometimes there were things you just couldn't tell your parents. It was something that she understood very well, herself. Though she didn't understand why Macao wouldn't approve of school, and it wasn't as if Romeo had a bad relationship with his father, either. But she wouldn't pry.

Continuing, Romeo stated, "Bisca and Alzack are on a job right now. And Natsu… well…" Romeo grimaced. "Let's just say that my teacher and Natsu… wouldn't get along."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just… just trust me on that one." Sweat beaded on Romeo's forehead. "You'll understand when we get there."

That sounded vaguely ominous.

"Well… here we are," Romeo stated, stopping outside an unassuming old brick building that Lucy must have passed by a thousand times before without giving it a second glance. A small metal faceplate declared the building as _The Magnolia Charter School for Young Mages._ Romeo reached for the door handle, pulling it open and ushering Lucy inside. "Sorry, the hallway is a little cramped. But my class is the one at the end, on the right. Right next to the courtyard."

Lucy walked through the open door, peering around the hallway curiously. It was indeed as cramped as Romeo had warned, with barely enough room for Lucy and Romeo to walk side by side, though it was surprisingly well illuminated for a building of its advanced age. "So," she teased, following the boy to his classroom, "a Charter school, huh. How did you manage to afford this without your dad noticing?"

A shrug met her words. "I go on a lot of jobs with Bisca and Alzack," he admitted. "And sometimes they pay me to babysit Asuka when they go on jobs. So far I've been able to pay for everything without too much trouble, and since it's a school for mages I get credit for anything I miss by going on a mage job."

"Must be nice not to have rent or utilities to worry about," Lucy said with a grumble.

He flashed her a grin. "Or destructive teammates!"

"Don't remind me…"

At the end of the hallway, Romeo stopped and gestured to the door with a slight flourish of his hand. "After you, Lucy."

"Such a gentleman today, Romeo." Lucy giggled, reaching for the door handle. Pushing it open, she stepped into the classroom.

It wasn't a very large room, with maybe only a dozen desks or so. Which made sense, Lucy mused, as this was a private school for the children of mages, who only made up about ten percent of the population to begin with. The walls were covered with decorations and student artwork. The rear was taken up by a shoe cupboard and coat hangers, along with a humongous, beautifully drawn map of Fiore. There was also a row of metal folding chairs in the back, presumably where Lucy would sit for the duration of the lesson. Turning her gaze to the front, she spotted the teacher's desk in the corner farthest from the door. The teacher himself was preoccupied with the chalkboard, writing out the day's lesson plan from what Lucy could see. Otherwise, the room was devoid of people.

He didn't immediately look up as Lucy and Romeo entered, intent on what he was doing. But not so intent as to not notice that someone had entered. "You're early. Go ahead and take a seat," he told them. "I'll be done in a moment."

That voice sounded awfully familiar to Lucy. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, however. Come to think of it, he looked rather familiar to her as well, with his oddly two-toned hair that was pulled into a high ponytail. Lucy could only recall a couple of people off the top of her head with such a coloration pattern.

"I sit over here, Lucy," Romeo said, snapping Lucy out of her daze.

The teacher stiffened at Romeo's words, the chalk in his hands coming to a sudden stop. "Lucy…?" the man repeated, swiftly turning around, chalk still clutched tightly in his hand.

Lucy's gaze met his, and both of them froze in recognition. Memories suddenly flooded her mind – of smelly fire, arrows, and a giant, broken lacrima.

"Oh, right," Romeo said, breaking the spell between the stupefied adults. "I forgot that you knew each other!"

"That's… putting it mildly," Lucy responded. Then she cleared her throat. "Well… ahem, I think I'm forgetting my manners." She strode up to the front of the room and stuck out her hand. "It's been a long time, Totomaru."

Expression shifting to one of bewildered wonder, Totomaru set down his chalk and took her hand. It was warm and rough with callouses from spending a lot of time writing, Lucy noticed. Just like hers were. Somehow, that was comforting. "It has been a long time, hasn't it," he said. "Though now under better circumstances, I hope."

Letting out a laugh, Lucy could only agree with him.

His voice was just as warm as his hand.

Romeo glanced back and forth between the pair of adults, perplexed by their behavior. "What you two acting so weird for? I told you that Totomaru was my teacher, remember, Lucy?"

"Oh, yeah," she replied, finally releasing his hand. "I think I remember something about that, now that you mention it." It had honestly completely slipped her mind. In her defense, a lot had happened since then.

Totomaru smiled kindly at her. "For my part, I just never expected to see you in my classroom. Given our… history, I wouldn't have been surprised if you were still holding a grudge over what me and my fellow guildmates did to you. But… how are you these days? Doing well, I hope."

"As well as can be expected," she admitted. "When one's team is…"

"Like they are," he supplied for her, with a knowing look.

Over his shoulder, Lucy spotted a poster. Peering at it, she grinned and gestured towards the caricature of Natsu with thick lines in an X across it. "If anyone in this room is holding a grudge though, I don't think it's me."

Snorting, Totomaru rolled his eyes. "Can you blame me?"

"I think I understand all too well, actually."

The sound of the door opening with the arrival of more students sent Lucy into retreat with a jolt. "Well… It was nice seeing you again, Totomaru. Maybe we could catch up later, after class."

Totomaru cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah. That would be good."

Returning to Romeo's side, she stood somewhat awkwardly next to him as the boy gestured at Lucy in exasperation. "The heck was that about?" he questioned, his eyes boring into her in suspicion.

"I don't know, Romeo," Lucy told him honestly. "But hopefully something good."

He just shook his head at her, unbelieving.

 _Adults._


	2. Chapter 2

**It took a while, but here is the next chapter! Totomaru was difficult to write, but Romeo was a dear. I'm excited to get to finishing this one, so there will be a monthly update on it until it's complete.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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Growing up, Lucy had come to have a certain expectation when it came to the teaching profession. Her only frames of reference being her own tutors, and the teachers mentioned in the novels she'd read, Lucy had gotten the impression that teaching was a chore, leaving her mystified as to why anyone would ever bother pursuing it as a career.

Seeing Totomaru in his element, however, rendered her previous assumptions completely false. And he was definitely _in his element_. The children were a lot more engaged than she remembered herself being at that age. She was even learning some new things as well, specifically in the area of magical history. There was a lot her tutors had glossed over in that department. Likely at the direct order of her father, she couldn't help but think. Jude had wanted to keep her as far away from her inheritance of magic as possible. So this whole thing was incredibly ironic to her as well; that one of the people that had tried to return her to Jude's control was in front of her now in the capacity of a teacher, carrying on about the same topics that had been forbidden to her younger self.

Her pleasant bubble she'd sunk into over the course of the lesson was briefly shattered when her role turned out to be a lot more… participatory than Romeo had led her to believe when he'd asked her to come along. But somehow she'd managed to stumble through the questions about being in Fairy Tail, her team, what some of the harder jobs were like, and if she had any advice to give to the young mages present.

That last one had given her great pause. But out of the corner of her eye, she spotted that poster of Natsu again. And memories of all their adventures flashed across her mind at the sight of it.

It decided her response.

Lucy had squared her jaw, and turned a steely gaze at the children, her brown eyes boring into their souls. Her tone grave, she had told them, "Do not destroy property. For the love of god. It's not worth it. It's really not worth it."

Totomaru had let out an ugly, swiftly smothered snort at her answer, leaving her cheeks to burn. But Romeo's nod of keen understanding and solidarity soothed the embarrassment a bit. The other children were quick to sagely agree with her words as well, a knowing look full of pity in their eyes as they gazed at her.

To be honest, she was kind of regretting her off-the-cuff answer now that the class was over. This had been her chance to impart wisdom upon the younger mages. And she'd blown it.

Also, now that the class was over, there was really no chance to talk to Totomaru. Most of the children had brought their parents with them as the mage they looked up to, so they were taking the opportunity to ask the teacher questions.

Instead, she turned to Romeo and grinned at him. "You ready to go? Or should I head back by myself while you hang out with your friends?"

Romeo peered up at her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you trying to get rid of me, Lucy?" Totomaru and Lucy had acted weird when they'd seen each other, like… Bisca and Alzack before Bisca proposed levels of weird. And Romeo remembered how that relationship had ended up. He was often stuck babysitting the result, after all.

Lucy really wasn't trying to ditch Romeo, but the expression on his face was enough to elicit a genuine laugh from her, which in turn garnered an even funnier offended expression from the young mage. "Hey!" he protested. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like she was making fun of him a little.

She was caught by another bout of giggles at his response. "It's nothing, Romeo!" she insisted, struggling to breathe and shaking slightly in her mirth. After a minute, her giggles subsided. "So…" she began, wiping a stray tear of laughter from her eye. "I don't think we discussed what we were going to tell your dad when we got back, about where you were all day."

Grabbing his bag, Romeo stood up from his desk. "Dad probably didn't even notice I was gone." He gave her a half-shrug and a roll of his eyes. "And if he did, then I can just tell him that I was hanging out with you all day."

"Actually, you might want to revise that to hanging out with your friends," Lucy informed him, her face twisting up in distaste. "He'll tease you nonstop."

Horror stole over Romeo, his entire body frozen as he envisioned it. "Yeah, you've got a point. Why are is he so embarrassing…?"

"I honestly wouldn't know. My father generally wanted nothing to do with me, and by the time he did…" Lucy's voice trailed off, and her eyes shifted away, towards the ground. "Well, it was too late by that point."

She looked up when she felt Romeo awkwardly pat her arm. "I'm sorry, Lucy."

The comforting action drew a small smile out of her, her brown eyes lighting up once more. "Don't worry about it, Romeo." When it looked like he wasn't going to let it drop after all, Lucy offered, "How about you and I go get some ice cream on our way back to the guild?"

Temptation such as this was not beneath the teenager to accept, even if it was a transparent dodge. "Sure thing. That place over on Yew Avenue?"

He had expensive taste, Lucy thought with dawning despair and a couple of quick mental calculations. "Sounds good to me." She could afford it this time.

They had made it halfway to the door before Romeo suddenly spun around and waved at his teacher. "See you tomorrow!" he called out.

Still distracted by the parents, Totomaru gave him a short wave back. "Don't forget that there's a quiz, Romeo!"

"I won't!"

Lucy lifted her hand and gave the teacher a little wave as well, but she wasn't sure if he'd seen it. He was beginning to look a little strained as the parents continued to grill him about their children.

Once the pair were back out onto Magnolia's streets, Lucy stretched her arms above her head. "I really like your school, Romeo!" she told him, her arms falling back down to her sides. "But I gotta say, it's a little cramped."

The boy nodded. "Yeah, the building's really old. I think it's been there since Magnolia was founded, or something. You know, like a… a historical landmark?"

"I guess that makes sense," Lucy agreed. "So…" The syllable was dragged out, hanging in the air between them. "Totomaru, huh. Now that I think about it, I do remember you mentioning it when we first got back from Tenrou Island that he was your teacher. I gotta say, it's one thing to hear it, but another to see it firsthand. I wonder how _that_ happened."

Romeo rolled his eyes at his guildmate. Somehow, he just knew that the topic would return to his teacher eventually. He had expected more restraint on Lucy's part, though. "He's never talked about it, and I've never asked."

"And of all places, why _Magnolia?_ " she continued, either not registering Romeo's words, or just ignoring them. "That's the strangest part by far. Of all the places he could have gone to teach, why set up in the same city his guild was defeated in?"

The teenager made a helpless gesture at her. "Again, how would I know? We don't talk about stuff like that. As far as I'm concerned, he's just my teacher."

Lucy couldn't resist the urge to poke at Romeo's pride. "A teacher with a grudge on your hero," she reminded him, a sly smile spreading across her face.

"Stop that!" he protested. "You're spending too much time with Happy; your face is starting to look like his when he's in teasing mode. It's kind of creepy, actually. Next you'll be asking me for fish."

The comment struck Lucy a death blow, and she outright choked as the air suddenly fled her lungs. Romeo laughed at her offended expression, lightly jogging ahead of her to avoid the possibility of retaliation.

"Get back here!" she shouted at him, picking up speed and chasing the boy through the streets as he laughed. "You come back here and say that to my face!"


End file.
